


Even coffee tastes sweet when I'm with you

by Stiiliinsski



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Slow Burn, peter doesn't like coffee, yet ends up drinking it all the time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-06 03:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17337716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stiiliinsski/pseuds/Stiiliinsski
Summary: Peter was never really a fan of coffee. He was restless enough as it was and with it he felt as if he could bounce off of buildings.But , even though ordering a drink is a simple quest for most people, for Peter it came with more than one complication.oranother coffee shop au that no one asked for





	1. Meeting you

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any of the characters.
> 
> This was supposed to be a one shot, but it looks like it's going to be at least three chapters long. Oops.
> 
> Also, I have no inspiration for the title so it is what it is.

Peter was never really a fan of coffee. He was restless enough as it was and with it he felt as if he could bounce off of buildings.

 But it was raining that day and he forgot his umbrella and his laptop was in his bag and he could really not risk it getting wet because May would kill him if he broke this one too. And all of it pointed him in the direction of a small coffee shop on his way to the library. He could wait there and do some work until the rain stopped.

Besides, he didn’t have to order coffee.

But , even though ordering a drink is a simple quest for most people, for Peter it came with more than one complication.

 

***

Michelle decided to work in a coffee shop(and the one called _Destiny_ at that, _gah_ ) out of sheer necessity. Her parents’ allowance seems to be smaller with each passing month and the list of books that _needed_ to be bought only seemed to grow. She has started college four months ago and even though her parents haven’t cut back on it, her expenses have increased and as she noted already _the list of books that_ needed _to be bought has only become longer._

And Michelle wasn’t lazy. And she was most definitely not against working in college. In fact, she encouraged it, it brought discipline in people’s lives and taught them responsibility. But working in a coffee shop? Not for her.

She had trouble with dealing with people on good days and when you’re in college with a crazy schedule and lacking sleep because balancing school work and reading poses a challenge, well then even good days aren’t the best.

Her mom laughed when she told her she would be spending her days behind a counter with a practiced, staged, _polite_ smile on her face. Her father, on the other hand, frowned and expressed his concern with her ending up behind bars for throwing coffee in someone’s face. She ended the face time with a stealthy glare and a mumbled _I love you too_.

She has been working at _Destiny(_ gah _, again)_ for four weeks. She stopped smiling after two and after three she’s replaced the practiced _‘Hello, my name is Michelle. What can I get you?’_  with ‘Coffee?’ or ‘Yes?’ or simply nothing but a raised eyebrow. So far there weren’t any complaints. And it’s not like she’d be frowning at people or scowling or something, she’d smile sometimes and her face wasn’t _naturally_ cemented in an expression of annoyance. It’s just that this job took more of her energy than some other where she wouldn’t have to deal with people.

 

It’s a Saturday morning and she’s spent last night working on her seminar. It wasn’t due for two weeks but she couldn’t make herself stop working on it until it was finished. That meant she’s had only three hours of sleep. She always worked mornings on a Saturday. She liked dealing with responsibilities first thing in the morning and then having later in the day to do what she wanted. It’s been like that since she was a kid. Fist homework, after she came home from school, and then playing.

So, it’s a Saturday and she’s dead tired and the morning rush has just finished and she’s used up her quota of smiles and “ _Hello, my name is Michelle what can I get you”_ ’s. She has just wiped the floor because it has started raining outside and a couple of customers have brought in the rain with them.

The bell rings then and she looks up and there’s a guy standing in the doorway, dripping wet, clutching what seems to be a laptop bag to his chest.

His hair is plastered to his head and his grey coat is sodden with water, the color almost black. He looks as if he’s absorbed all the water that’s fallen that day and is determined to release it in _her_ coffee house.

Well, it’s not hers, but she’s the one cleaning it and so in a way it is hers! She frowns and has to bite on her lip to stop herself from yelling at him that they’re not a drying room and that he should get a dryer and an umbrella and there are some other words stuck on her tongue that she wants to throw his way, but aren’t suitable for two kids sitting in the corner booth with their mom.

 So she says nothing and waits for the confused look on his face to drop.

He looks around as if he didn’t know where he’s walked in and is trying to figure it out. He shakes his head a little, squeezing his eyes for a moment before lightening the grip on the laptop clutched to his chest. He runs a hand through his hair and makes his way towards the counter.

“Hello.”

Michelle only raises an eyebrow in an answer. He’s not really looking at her. His eyes are dancing over the board on the wall right of her head that has daily specials written on it.

And then his eyes settle on her. He blinks fast a couple of times and his mouth drops, just a little, enough so that she can see tips of his upper teeth.

And then he doesn’t say a thing. He closes his mouth and looks at her.

Michelle feels her other eyebrow rising to meet the other one in the ultimate ‘what-do-you-want’ stare down.

“Coffee?” she asks after another second passes.

He nods, stutters out a weak ‘Yes.’ and nods again. She can see his cheeks reddening with blood rushing to his cheeks.

“To go?”

“Yes.”

“Name?”

“Peter.” This time his voice is a bit louder.

She squints at him before turning away and grabbing a black marker to write down his name, but then she looks at him again and as the marker touches down on the cup she changes her minds.

_Poseidon_

She chuckles, shakes her head and goes over to the coffee machine to get his order ready.

She looks over at him and sighs as she sees him shuffling on his feet.

“I swear, if he’s a nut job and goes rogue on this place I’m moving.” She mumbles to herself before walking to the counter and giving him his order.

“There you go.”

“Thank you.” He nods at her before taking a step back. He looks down at his cup for a second and then does a double take. He looks at her sheepishly before looking around for a table.

“The one under the window has a radiator next to it. You can dry your jacket on it.” She speaks, her voice almost startling him.

“Thank you.” He looks a bit surprised that she said anything. “Sorry for the mess.”

“It’s just water. Don’t worry about it. But next time they say it’s gonna rain on the forecast, bring an umbrella with you.”

He just smiles and raises his cup a little before taking a seat under the window.

 

***

 

He comes back the next Saturday.

“Hello.”

“Coffee?” she asks and when she does she thinks she sees blush covering his cheeks as he nods in yes.

He becomes a regular.

Every Saturday he’s there at nine on the dot.

And every Saturday she asks: “Coffee?” and he nods. Somewhere along the line he loses the blush.

They never speak more than a couple of words required for him to place his order. But she always writes anything but his name on the cup. And he always smiles at her after reading it.

Pan-he’s wearing a green jacket and a green hat

Snow White-he’s carrying a bag filled with apples

LEGOlas-he’s got a box of Legos under his arm(he snorts at that one)

 

He keeps sitting at the booth next to the radiator.

She comes to expect him on Saturday mornings.

A month and a half after his first visit a couple comes in at 8:50 and go over to sit where he usually does. There are three people standing in the line, waiting to order, but when she glances at them and sees where they are going she asks the first person in the line to wait(“Just a moment, please.”) And she walks around the counter and reaches the table just as they are taking of their jackets and are getting ready to sit down.

“I’m sorry, but that table is taken. Can I ask you to, please, sit somewhere else?”

The girl looks at her with raised eyebrow. “There’s no one sitting here.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s… reserved.”

“Well, I don’t see the plate saying it is.”

And it grates on Michelle’s nerves that this girl is ready to fight her on this. And it irks her even more that the girl is right and Michelle doesn’t even know why she’s doing what she’s doing.

She opens her mouth to say something, not even sure what, when the girl’s boyfriend speaks.

“C’mon, honey, we can sit over there, next to the window.” He turns to Michelle then, “We’re sorry to inconvenience you. We didn’t know it was taken.”

Michelle breathes out in relief as they go and takes a second before going back to the counter. She apologizes to the woman in front of her and thanks her for waiting.

Half an hour later, when the couple is leaving, the girl shoots Michelle a look at that tells her they won’t be coming back. She almost regrets doing what she did, but then her eyes find Peter and as she looks at him hunched over the spread papers on the table with a frown on his face and a pen between his teeth, she feels content with what she did.

And if she considers getting a _RESERVED_ plate, no one has to know.

 

***

 

One time he comes in with a Harry Potter book under his arm. She sees it while he’s still outside, through the window and a grin spreads over her lips. She doesn’t let him see it, of course. By the time he’s standing in front of her, she’s got the look of boredom on her face.

The marker is already uncapped on the counter next to her hand and only her foot, that’s tapping in an irregular rhythm is an indicator of her excitement.

He’s already turned his back before he stops and turns to look back at her.

He’s grinning and she can’t help it when her eyebrows rise on her forehand and her lips stretch in a small smile.

“Yes?”

“Clever. ”

“Clever is my middle name.” she retorts and he chuckles.

“You’re a fan then?”

“I’ve read all books four times already.”

“This is my fifth.”

“I guess I’ll have to catch up then.” She shoots back and he smiles widely. He opens his mouth to say something, but then a customer comes up to the counter and he goes to sit at his booth.

He waves at her when he leaves that time and she can’t explain the heat at her cheeks as she watches the door close behind him.

At the end of her shift when she’s taking out the trash, his cup catches her eye and she can’t help but smile as she reads her own handwriting.

_Pettigrew_

***

_Pettigrew_

Peter doesn’t really know whether to take it as an offence to his, well, everything or as a compliment to his reading choice. But then he turns to look at her and she’s standing there, biting her lip and he sees the expectance in her eyes. So he decides to take it as a compliment and grins at her.

He’s been looking for ways to talk to her, to start up a conversation.

He couldn’t really explain, if anyone asked him, why he kept returning to that cafe at first.  He woke up next Saturday, took materials that he needed for studying and was on his way to the library when he passed the café and decided to come in again. The cute girl from last time was working again and he inwardly groaned when he remembered all of his blushing and stuttering from the last time.

She took him by surprise, the first time he came here. He was studying the menu next to her head, not even noticing her at first. And then his eyes flicker to her and he can’t help that his mouth drops a little, because she is gorgeous. Her hair is curly and a couple of strands fell out of the bun on the back of her head. She’s looking expectantly at him, her eyebrow is raised and when she asks if he wants coffee, he just nods, only later, when he’s sitting down and takes a sip, does he remember that he doesn’t like coffee. Still, he drinks all of it and next week, when she asks him the same question, he nods again. And so does he the week after and the week after and the week after.

It turns out Saturday mornings are her shifts and if that has anything to do with prompting him to go there, you can’t hold it against him. The name tag on her uniform says Michelle and he think it fits her, that name. It’s sweet, but at the same time has a sharpness in it. He likes it and judging from the looks she sometimes gives him, it fits.

The week after he comes in reading Harry Potter instead of greeting him with ’Coffee?’, she says: “I caught up.”

He thinks he probably looks a little shocked, surprised she’s talking to him about something other than his order.

“You know, it only counts if you read all seven books.”

“As I said, I caught up.”

He looks at her, squinting a little, doubtful at her statement.

“You’ve read all seven books since last Saturday?”

“What? Like it’s hard?”

He snorts: “See you’re a fan of Legally blond.”

“Not really. I haven’t even seen the entire movie, just the clip.”

“Wow. I think that’s an actual crime in some states.” Maybe it’s the way she’s looking at him, a raised eyebrow, lips pursed, but only a little, but curiosity in her eyes instead of annoyance that makes him say: “I think I might get arrested if I don’t make you to see it.”

“Let me guess, you have it on DVD.”

“Blu-ray but, yeah. Are you free tomorrow?”

“It’s not a date.”

He doesn’t know where he gets the confidence to say what he does instead of blushing furiously, but he manages to say: “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He grins widely and when she turns around to make his coffee, he’s 99.9% sure he sees something akin a smile.

 

***

He gives her a paper with his address written on it and tells her he’ll see her around 6.

He smiles so wide his cheeks hurt and in return she glares at him and doesn’t stop even after he’s left.

Michelle is pretty sure the funny feeling in her stomach is just hunger.

 

***


	2. Of plastic cups, seafood pizzas and not-dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She eats half of his pizza.  
> He doesn’t say anything, just grins at her smugly and raises his hands in defense when she throws a pillow at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, THANK YOU, on the amazing feedback. 65 kudos on the first chapter! That's incredible. I really hope I don't disappoint!   
> Also, I do not own any of the characters.

***

Despite the widely spread opinion, Michelle can get nervous.

She gets nervous every time she has to get her blood drawn.

She gets nervous every time she goes to pet a dog because she remembers that time she was six and her neighbor’s dog bit her.

She gets nervous when she has to give a presentation or go to speak to professors at college.

Still, she doesn’t let it show.

She makes her expression neutral and tries to even out her breathing.

The only way anyone could tell she’s nervous is by the way she plays with her fingers on her right hand, touching her thumb to all her fingers.

Her mother knows how to read her and so does her dad and her grandmother.

They all have different tactics at trying to calm her.

Her mother takes her other hand in hers and smiles reassuringly at her.

Her father squeezes her shoulder and drops a kiss on the top of her head. (That became significantly harder as she kept growing ‘till she became almost as tall as him)

Her grandmother places a hand at her cheek and says: “Nothing lasts forever, pumpkin, only God.”

And so whenever she feels nervous or anxious, she imagines her mother’s hand in hers, her father’s kiss on her hand and reminds herself of her grandmother’s words.

And that’s what she does when she arrives at Peter’s apartment at 6:07 and raises her hand to knock.

She can hear him _run_ to the door.

He stops.

Runs back.

Something crashes.

Michelle rolls her eyes, feeling her nerves ease up.

He runs back towards the door, slowing into a hurried walk before he opens it, smiling at her sheepishly.

“So,” she asks, trying to conceal her grin “what’d you break?”

He groans and she snorts as he runs a hand over his face.

“I went to open a window and knocked over a lamp in the process.” He steps aside and he walks in.

It’s not a huge apartment. There’s a small kitchen connected to the living room and a small hallway with three doors. It’s cozy and nice. And Michelle likes cozy and nice.

She can see he’s already set up the DVD and she appreciates it.

 

***

 

It’s awkward, at first.

Michelle sits on the left side of the couch, she pulls a throw pillow in her lap(she didn’t know men even owned throw pillows) and leans back into the cushions.

“Would you like anything to drink?” he asks, biting his lip and shuffling on his feet.

“That’s my line, usually.” Michelle smiles and so does he.

“I have cappuccino, orange juice, Coca Cola and water.”

“What, no coffee?” she teases him, but doesn’t understand the blush that appears on his cheeks when he says: “No, no coffee.”

“Orange juice would be great, thank you.”

And even the conversation seems _stiff_ , too formal, too uncomfortable and Michelle regrets coming. She can’t wait for him to sit down and play the damn movie, the sooner he does that, the sooner she gets to go home; back to her bed and her books and out of this awkward mess she’s gotten herself into.

 

***

 

They don’t turn the lights off.

It would be better, watching the movie in the dark, but neither wants to deal with unwanted implications. And so he plays the movie and Michelle sits through trailers that come with the disc while he goes get her a drink.

He hands her a plastic cup(who the heck gives plastic cups to guests, she’s not freaking three years old), but the she sees it, the scribbled marker, covered under her finger.

She squints and looks at Peter as he sits down on the floor on the other side of the couch. He’s trying to act casual, but is as suspicious as a man dressed in all black with a mask over his face, walking into a bank.

And so she squints at him even more before lifting her finger to see what he’s written.

_Hermione_

She knows immediately it’s because of her hair that looks more like a birds nest than actual hair. Humidity really isn’t good for her usually perfectly messy curls.

She just sniffles and lifts her head a little, trying to act offended.

“Hermione Granger is the brightest witch of their time. I’m taking this as a compliment.” She says and takes a sip of her juice.

And Peter, Peter just turns, looks at her with wide “innocent” eyes and says: “Why that’s what I meant! You did say Clever is your middle name.”

And then he winks at her and even though Michelle’s stomach does that swooping thing you feel when riding a roller coaster, she glares at him.

“Just play the damn movie already.”

He just laughs and she rolls her eyes, trying to hide her smile.

And just like that all the tension and all the awkwardness has seeped out of the room.

 

***

 

It’s a fun movie, not something she’d watch once a year (like Lord of the rings, don’t judge her), but a fun movie nevertheless.

Somewhere around the time Elle impresses professor Callahan, Peter pauses and scrambles to his feet to go to the bathroom.

Now, Michelle isn’t one for snooping, but Peter’s in the bathroom and she’s _curious_ , so she decides to “stretch her legs” and if she accidentally stumbles near the shelve and picks up a picture of Peter, hugging who she guesses is his good friend, it’s not really snooping.

In the picture, both boys have grins stretching from ear to ear. They are covered in flour, head to toe and there’s something yellow, that looks suspiciously like an egg, dripping down the side of Peter’s face. From the looks of it, both boys are around 8 years old.

Peter emerges from the bathroom and she lifts the picture a little.

“So, how exactly does a food fight start? That’s always been mystery to me. I’ve never randomly decided to start throwing my food at people.”

“Because there’s too many hungry people in the world?”

“Well, that too, but mostly because _it’s food_. You don’t throw food, you eat it.”

“In this case, Ned, he’s my best friend, and I were helping my Aunt May bake cookies and at one point she thought it would be a good idea for her to go to the bathroom and, of course, we decided food fight was long overdue. That was something that really sealed our friendship.”

“I mean, of course, you’re not really friends until you’ve had to clean eggs your friend threw at you from your ears for the next three days.”

He smiles at her and goes to pick up his phone. “I was thinking we could order something.”

“Pizza?”

“It’s like you’re reading my mind.”

“Well, I am the brightest muggle of our time.” She dead pans at him and he smiles widely.

Michelle thinks his cheeks must hurt.

 

***

 

Michelle chooses bacon and cheese as toppings and Peter gets seafood.

She wrinkles her nose when she hears him place an order.

“That’s disgusting.” She says when he hangs up and he grins at her.

(She really doesn’t know what’s with all the grinning.)

 

***

 

There’s only half an hour of the movie left when the doorbell rings and they decide they would press pause while they eat.

It wouldn’t be fair to Elle Woods if they didn’t give her all their attention.

 

***

 

 

She ends up eating half of his pizza.

Michelle glares at him after taking another slice and he grins at her, chewing with his mouth half open and his eyebrows raised.

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything. Not a thing.”

(Seriously, what’s with all the grinning?)

She ends up throwing a throw pillow at him.

(Also, that pillow should be thankful to her for that, it’s finally lived up to its name.)

 

***

 

“So, how did you manage to snatch this apartment?” she asks after the movie’s done and the credits are rolling.

“It’s Ned’s grandmother’s friends’. She loves him so she lowered the rent.”

“Cool.”

“It has its perks over living in dorms.”

“No communal bathroom.”

“No RA.”

“No loud parties when you’re trying to sleep.”

“It definitely has its perks.”

 

***

 

She doesn’t stay for much longer.

They talk for a bit, mostly small talk and then she’s off.

She offers him a hand before she leaves and he takes it in a firm handshake and she likes it.

Her mother has always told her to shake hands like a boss.

She takes four steps and then she turns to look back at him, almost shyly, over her shoulder.

He’s watching her and he smiles.

She waves her hand at him with a quiet ‘bye’ and then she’s off.

 

***

 

Michelle lies in bed that night and smiles to herself as she remembers him stealing glances at her while they were watching the movie.

And she doesn’t have a crush on him.

And it definitely wasn’t a date.

But then she remembers the quiet need to take one last look at him before leaving and thinks that maybe, just maybe, she might be lying to herself.

 

***

 

Peter Parker is a mess.

He takes a shower at 4 PM and then goes to make himself some cappuccino.

He manages to spill it all over the front of his shirt.

He’s nervous. He seemed all cool, asking Michelle to come over and he’s still not quite sure how.

His palms are sweaty, he’s biting on his lip like crazy and so when the doorbell rings he somehow thinks running towards the door is a good idea, but then he remembers the discarded shirt on the floor and runs back to put it away.

In the process, of course, _of course,_ he knocks down a lamp.

Thankfully it doesn’t break.

He then runs back to the door and opens it to a grinning Michelle.

 

***

 

It’s awkward.

It is so, _so_ awkward, but then he asks her if she wants something to drink and she teases him and he blushes, but he doesn’t mind.

It gives him a bit of courage.

Not a lot.

Like a spoon of courage.

Maybe a teaspoon.

Still, it’s enough for him to write _Hermione_ on her cup and it earns him a glare and a roll of her eyes and maybe, after he presses play on the movie, even a smile.

He doesn’t know why he winks at her, but she blushes, just a little and he’s pretty sure it’s because of that teaspoon.

_***_

He gives her a real, glass cup later, but she makes a show of pouring the drink in the plastic one and he grins at her widely.

She just drinks her juice and ignores him.

 

***

 

She’s holding the picture of him and Ned when he comes back from the bathroom.

He tells her about the food fight.

At one point she smiles at him widely and his heart flutters.

Well, maybe it doesn’t flutter exactly, but it most definitely skips a beat.

 

***

 

When he orders pizza she wrinkles her nose at him and it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen.

He has to remind himself that it’s not a date.

They’re just friends and he is _not_ going to fall in love with her.

There’s a voice in his head that snorts at him when he tells himself that.

It sounds awfully like Ned.

 

***

 

She eats half of his pizza.

He doesn’t say anything, just grins at her smugly and raises his hands in defense when she throws a pillow at him.

 

***

 

They talk about his and Ned’s apartment.

Her eyes land on their collection of Harry Potter DVD’S and she tells him she’s never seen the movies.

He almost chokes on his own spit, but then, when he tells her that she _has_ to watch them with him, she just says ‘Fine’ and it makes him happy because if all he gets out of this relationship is even eight more nights where she glares at him and talks to him and maybe even smiles at him, just a little, well, then he’ll be a happy man.

And he won’t fall in love with her.

Because they’re friends.

And Peter Parker can be _just_ friends with a girl without wanting something more.

 

***

 

Next Saturday Peter comes in at nine, as per usual, and the doorbell chimes and Michelle looks at him and they both blush.

He gets coffee, again and they pointedly don’t talk about their not-date.

He sits in his booth and as he drinks his coffee and steals glances at her over the brim of his book, even the usually bitter drink tastes kind of sweet.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter. I could've continued writing, but I don't want it to be messy. Let's make this slow burn!  
> Also, do you like reading Peter's perspective of the events too? It would be really awesome if you commented on it so that I know how to continue in the future. I love hearing your ideas and constructive criticism!   
> Once again, thank you on the incredible feedback!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this! If you did, please comment and let me know. Also, if you've got some tropes you'd like to see in this story, do let me know and I'll do my best to make it happen.  
> All the love.


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